If you thought cold coffee was for snobs or sugar junkies, think again. Cold brew coffee is often less acidic and less bitter than hot brewed coffee, and more palatable with milk. Using a slow-drip process with an adjustable valve, the Cold Bruer Coffee Brewer lets you play around with brew time to get your ideal cup. However, don’t think you’ll pull this sort of cold brewing off in a quick minute; the recommended brew time is a 6-hour span, at a drip per second.
Designers: Gabe Herz and Andy Clark
Material: Borosilicate glass, food-grade silicone, stainless steel
Size: 10″ h x 5″ w (25.4×12.7cm)
STAYING: LaMarcus Aldridge, Davis Bertans, Bryn Forbes, Pau Gasol, Rudy Gay, Patrick Mills, Dejounte Murray and Derrick White.
ADDED: Marco Belinelli (Philadelphia), Dante Cunningham (Brooklyn), DeMar DeRozan (Toronto), Jakob Poeltl (Toronto), Quincy Pondexter and Lonnie Walker (University of Miami).
GONE: Kyle Anderson (Memphis), Matt Costello (Avellino), Manu Ginobili (retired), Danny Green (Toronto), Darrun Hilliard (Baskonia), Joffrey Lauvergne (Fenerbahce), Kawhi Leonard (Toronto), Tony Parker (Charlotte) and Brandon Paul.
STRENGTHS: Basketball IQ and execution should be more than OK with such a veteran team … They have a couple of very nice go-to scorers in LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan … Mid-range shooting is going to be quite good with those two … DeRozan comes off possibly his best season in the NBA and should be motivated to perform following his trade from Toronto … They landed an intriguing big in Jakob Poeltl, who could be primed for a breakout season with a bigger role in San Antonio … For six years in a row, San Antonio has been a Top 3 club in defensive rating … Expect them to remain strong in that department … The Kawhi situation is no more, so the Spurs may go back to their old zero-drama ways … Gregg Popovich … Enough said.
WEAKNESSES: For the first time in many years, they can’t be mentioned as a potential contender … Has to be deflating … They lost five rotation players this offseason, including the three most important this century outside of Tim Duncan … Most of their players are past their prime or a bit green … They are pretty weak at the point guard position in a conference featuring Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Damian Lillard, etcetera … A backcourt of Dejounte Murray and DeRozan is not going to terrorize opponents with three-point shooting … Who’s going to be the vocal leader for this squad? … Winning 48-50 games may not guarantee a playoff spot in the West.
PREDICTION: 2nd in the Southwest Division, 7th in the Western Conference.
SALARIES:
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If you’re going to have a step stool, you might as well make it this one. Why? Well, it’s made of molded steel- that’s what gives the split-legged design its sleekness and strength- and it’s very minimalist. So minimalist, in fact, you could even leave it out all the time as a resting spot for books or a special plant. You’d not say the same for any other step stool you find at the local hardware store, would you? Now on sale.
Designer: Frederik Roijé
Made in the Netherlands
Size: 18h x 18w x 18″d
Materials: Powder-coated Steel
reg.$210.00
White and added oak treads available directly from the designer, Frederik Roijé.
Updated price and link; originally posted Mar 16, 2017.
from Better Living Through Design https://ift.tt/2ndzXc9
The Oregon Health Authority is on the verge of passing a radical policy that would require chronic pain patients receiving Medicaid to have their opioids tapered to zero while covering "nonpharmacologic treatments for pain" that include primarily acupuncture, chiropractic, massage therapy, and other "alternative" treatments. Not surprisingly, the Oregon Chronic Pain Task Force, which is responsible for this proposed infliction of quackery on the most vulnerable, has three acupuncturists and a chiropractor sitting on it.
from Science-Based Medicine https://ift.tt/2N3XxVM
The 2000s era of basketball was mainly defined by superstar wing play and two separate dynasties, one of which sprouted up in Texas.
A one-time member of the Toronto Raptors, Orlando Magic and Houston Rockets, Tracy McGrady was one of the main swingmen who defined the former platitude. While the latter, obviously, is referring to the San Antonio Spurs, who won three titles between 1999-2000 and 2008-09. Recently, San Antonio entered the news when it was announced that one of the franchise’s greatest players, Manu Ginobili, had finally decided to hang ’em up after 16 years in the NBA.
So that got us to thinking: If forced to choose between the two aforementioned legends, who would we pick as the better player? We posited the question on Twitter, and the results were as down-the-middle as they could be:
It’s not hard to surmise why this topic is so divisive, either. After all, aside from both being ball-handlers, Ginobili and McGrady weren’t that similar.
One was an explosive, high-usage, super-sized wing who could do a bit of everything on the hardwood, but was never able to win anything substantial in his career. While the other was a bit more selfless, playing a major role for his team, but doing so off the bench while never averaging more than 13.3 nightly shot attempts in a season.
Nevertheless, despite their clear differences, using a few categories – such as scoring, rebounding and defense, among others – we’re going to break each of these players down in an attempt to answer the all-important question: Who was better?
SCORING
This one is closer than first glance would indicate. Per-36 minutes, Ginobili averaged over 19.0 points eight times throughout his career, the same amount as McGrady. To go with his underrated hops, the crafty southpaw had an innate ability to get defenders off their feet using a variety of fakes, opening up easy looks for himself at the rim:
What’s more, Ginobili was a far more accurate outside shooter than his 6-foot-8 counterpart. For his career, Ginobili converted 36.9 percent of his three-point looks, peaking in 2011-12 at 41.3 percent. Meanwhile, McGrady was just a career 33.8 percent three-point marksman, whose shooting zenith came in 2002-03 when he made 38.6 percent of his outside looks.
Even so, for how fun it was to watch Ginobili drop buckets, it’s hard to overlook the fact McGrady led the league in scoring on two separate occasions (2002-03, 32.1 ppg and 2003-04, 28.0 ppg), while putting up more points for his career (19.6 ppg/21.6 points per-36) than Ginobili (13.3 ppg/18.8 points per-36).
McGrady was a three-level scorer – one who could beat you from deep, on pull-ups and when attacking the basket. Thanks to his size and freakish athleticism, at his peak, he was one of the most vicious finishers the league had to offer:
He also wasn’t afraid to use his body on smaller defenders and post up, often opting to finish with a turnaround jumper that was nearly impossible to contest.
Ginobili was a fantastic scorer in his own right – heck, he popularized the Euro step, making it a go-to move for today’s professional bucket-getters – and deserves more credit for his point-scoring prowess. Nevertheless, it’s impossible to go against a former two-time scoring champ.
Advantage: McGrady
PASSING
The discourse regarding these two all-time greats and their abilities as passers can be broken down like this: McGrady passed because he was talented enough, and had the vision necessary, to feed teammates with easy looks when defenses bent themselves out of shape trying to stop him from scoring. He’d occasionally dish a no-look dime or scoop up a lob for an alley-oop finish, but for the most part, his passing, while good, was more ordinary than anything else.
Ginobili’s passing, on the other hand, was not of this world. He could see things and openings other players couldn’t. His dimes – the behind-the-back looks, the ones where he’d turn his head one way and pass another, the fastballs he’d whiz past opponents’ heads – warped space and time.
The stats mostly back that up, too. For their careers, Ginobili averaged 5.4 assists per-36 minutes to McGrady’s 4.9, and 7.8 assists per 100 possessions to McGrady’s 7.1.
If anything, though, the numbers make their disparity as visionaries appear closer than it actually was; we have a clear victor in this category.
Advantage: Ginobili
REBOUNDING
McGrady was 6-foot-8, had a 7-foot-2 wingspan and in his prime, was one of the bounciest athletes in the league. His instincts as a player weren’t half-bad, either. As such, it shouldn’t come as a surprise the Hall-of-Famer was a pretty good rebounder back in his heyday. Over a seven-season stretch, McGrady averaged 6.7 boards per contest, and 9.3 per 100 possessions.
Ginobili, meanwhile, moreso just did what he could do on the glass. He was persistent, could read where the ball was gonna bounce off the rim well and didn’t mind sticking his nose among the trees to fight for the rock. But it wasn’t enough to make him much of a difference-maker as a rebounder. The Argentine 2-guard never averaged more than 4.8 boards nightly in a season, and even in his best seven-year stretch, he merely secured 7.0 rebounds per 100 possessions.
Plus, it’s kinda hard to forget that Ginobili’s biggest moment as a rebounder came when he failed to secure one that would have given the Spurs the 2013 NBA title:
The mix of anecdotal and statistical evidence here seems like enough to sway this category clearly in a certain direction.
Advantage: McGrady
DEFENSE
Truth be told, neither player was thought of as much of a one-on-one point-stopper at any point in their careers. And that’s unfortunate, considering the freakish tools – height, length, agility and athleticism – McGrady possessed. For whatever reason, he was just never able to tap into those gifts and make them translate to the less glamorous side of the things.
Ginobili was obviously much less physically gifted than McGrady, but even so, he still managed to be a more disruptive defender throughout his playing days. Besides flat-out caring more about defense than McGrady ever did, Ginobili simply had better instincts on that end of the floor.
Many enjoyed knocking the Argentinian guard for what they considered to be flopping, but drawing charges was, and still is, an important skill. The fact Ginobili was so willing to put his body on the line to take possessions away from opponents was highly commendable, and absolutely aided in boosting San Antonio’s defensive marks.
Ginobili was also downright tenacious when it came to jumping passing lanes and ripping balls away from unsuspecting opponents – and the numbers reflect that. For his career, the Spurs legend averaged 1.9 steals per 36 minutes. That’s in comparison to McGrady’s 1.3-steal-per-36-minute career mark.
Furthermore, the catch-all metrics seem to back up Ginobili’s edge in this category as well. According to NBA Math’s career standings data, Ginobili had 795.35 Defensive Points Saved (DPS) during his time in the NBA, to McGrady’s 471.80.
It seems like we have a clear winner here.
Advantage: Ginobili
TEAM SUCCESS
Well, this one’s pretty one-sided.
Here’s the list of what Ginobili won in his career:
4 NBA titles
1 Euroleague title
1 Italian league title
4 gold medals with Argentina
One of those was an Olympic gold, in the 2004 Athens Games
Meanwhile, McGrady never made it out of the first round of the playoffs in his prime. He did reach the Finals once, but that came as a member of the Spurs’ bench in 2012-13, when he was deployed for just 31 minutes all season – most of which came in garbage time during that year’s playoff run.
So… yeah. Not a close matchup at all here.
Advantage: Ginobili
ACCOLADES
In this section, we like not to get too verbose, so we’re just going to list the accolades each legend garnered throughout their playing days. (Note: We’re focusing on NBA accomplishments here, so Ginobili’s overseas accolades are out the window.)
McGrady:
Seven-time All-Star
Two-time 1st Team All-NBA
Three-time 2nd Team All-NBA
Two-time 3rd Team All-NBA
Two-time scoring champion
2000-01 Most Improved Player
Hall of Fame as player
Ginobili:
Two-time All-Star
Two-time 3rd Team All-NBA
2007-08 Sixth Man of the Year
2nd Team All-Rookie
Ginobili undoubtedly would have received more accolades in his career if he hadn’t come off the bench for most of it. On a different team and with more minutes on the floor (he only crossed the 30-minute-nightly threshold twice while in the NBA), there’s no doubt he could have been putting up at least 20 a night – numbers that would have gotten him far more All-Star and All-NBA consideration.
Regardless, we can’t take credit away from McGrady just because Ginobili theoretically would have garnered more awards in a different situation.
We have our winner here.
Advantage: McGrady
FINAL VERDICT
As always, it’s extremely difficult to choose between two legends – in this case, two of the greatest swingmen the NBA has ever seen.
It should be noted that at his peak, McGrady was the far superior player, who was a borderline MVP candidate and the clear No. 1 option on multiple playoff teams. If switched with McGrady and given the top role on those same teams, would Ginobili, even in his prime, been able to do the same in dragging so-so units to the postseason?
On the other hand, McGrady was never able to lead his own squad out of the first round of the playoffs. Plus, while Ginobili was never the Spurs’ No. 1 option (though some metrics would argue that he was), he holds the clear edge in terms of longevity and team accomplishments – accomplishments of which he was a major factor in achieving.
Additionally, we can’t just totally ignore what Ginobili was able to accomplish while rocking the No. 5 jersey for Argentina. He had some help – those Argentine squads were stacked with NBA players and overseas stars – but there’s no questioning who the leader, both in a tangible and intangible sense, of those teams was.
At the same time, however, McGrady, at one point in history, was an absolute superstar who transcended thanks to his explosive abilities on the wing. He also received MVP votes at the culmination of multiple seasons, finishing as high as fourth on two separate occasions.
If we were going by career longevity and success, it’s clear Ginobili would be this exercise’s winner.
But overall, who was the better player?
We’re going with McGrady.
You can follow Frank Urbina on Twitter: @FrankUrbina_.
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STAYING: OG Anunoby, Lorenzo Brown, Serge Ibaka, Kyle Lowry, CJ Miles, Norman Powell, Malachi Richardson, Pascal Siakam, Jonas Valanciunas, Fred VanVleet and Delon Wright.
ADDED: Chris Boucher (Golden State), Kay Felder (Detroit), Danny Green (San Antonio), Kawhi Leonard (San Antonio), Jordan Loyd (Hapoel Eilat) and Greg Monroe (Boston).
GONE: DeMar DeRozan (San Antonio), Alfonzo McKinnie, Malcolm Miller, Lucas Nogueira and Jakob Poeltl (San Antonio).
STRENGTHS: On paper, it’s the best roster Toronto has ever assembled … Last time we saw healthy Kawhi Leonard, he was the best two-way player in basketball … If he gets anywhere near his 2015-17 form, he’s in the mix for best player in the Eastern Conference … He scores efficiently, doesn’t force matters and makes a massive impact on the defensive end … It’s just a great combination of talent, IQ, effort and gifted physique … Oh, and he wins … Not all his own doing, but Leonard actually has by far the best winning percentage in NBA history among players with at least 250 regular-season games … The Raptors bring back an elite point guard in Kyle Lowry … He’s quite the floor general … His vast improvement as an outside shooter over the years should prolong his career at the highest level … They have quality players at all five positions and terrific depth … Plenty of three-point shooting threats too … Even Jonas Valanciunas is hitting threes at a good rate, which should prevent him from sharing the same fate of other centers in the NBA … He’s a post-up beast too … For a team in win-now mode, they have a good number of young up-and-coming players … Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby and Delon Wright were solid on secondarly roles last season and they should take a step forward this year … Toronto was the lone team in the Top 5 in both offensive and defensive rating in 2017-18 … They start off from a super high point … Great home-court advantage … Bête noire LeBron is no longer in the same conference, which Toronto fans will probably appreciate.
WEAKNESSES: You could question many things about Toronto the previous seasons, but they had good chemistry and played with effort with Dwane Casey and DeMar DeRozan there … They messed with a good thing … It could be for the better … Or not … Although still terrific for the Raptors, Lowry saw his performance drop off a bit last season … This will be his Age-33 campaign, so we may see more of that this year … Leonard is not the congenial guy DeRozan was and may have one eye out the door with free agency at the end of the season … Odd locker room fit? … With freakish athleticism gone, Ibaka has regressed quite a bit recently … Toronto’s playoff struggles are well documented … Can they put it together when it matters the most?
PREDICTION: 2nd in the Atlantic Division, 2nd in the Eastern Conference.
SALARIES:
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The best NBA players are always looking for an edge. Not only are they some of the most competitive people in the world, they’re also rewarded with increasingly enormous contracts if they perform at a high level.
This has led some athletes to take an all-encompassing approach to their development. In addition to working on their game in the offseason, they’re improving their sleep schedule, dietary habits and mindfulness among other things.
David Nurse has created an “athlete-of-the-future” training regimen for players who are willing to make extreme lifestyle changes in hopes of tapping into their full potential. David, the nephew of Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse, uses wearable technology and customized plans to ensure that each player he works with is “functioning at optimal capacity.”
Nurse played college basketball at Western Illinois and then had professional stints in Spain, Greece and Australia. After he finished his playing career, he became a highly respected shooting coach. Nurse, a HoopsHype contributor several years ago, holds two Guinness World Record for three-point shooting: most threes made with one basketball in one minute (20) and in five minutes (81). He worked with players individually, helping them tweak their jump-shot, and hosted clinics around the world. He also consulted with UCLA’s basketball teams and ran shooting clinics for USA Basketball (and many other national teams).
In 2016, the Brooklyn Nets hired Nurse to work with their players and improve their shooting. The Nets went from being one of the worst shooting squads at the start of the season to ranking first in the NBA in three-point shooting in February and March of 2016, but Nurse left after the campaign concluded.
That’s when Nurse decided he didn’t want to be viewed as a one-trick pony and decided to broaden his training. When he made the switch to developing all aspects of a player’s game, he decided he wanted to help his clients off the court as well. Now, he struggles to find a label for this role, arriving on “life coach” as the simplest description.
“I used to only train players on the court and focus on their individual skills in the basketball realm, but after working with many guys, I started realizing that there’s so much more that goes into their success and development,” Nurse told HoopsHype. “The on-court stuff is a small piece of the puzzle. There’s much more that determines how an athlete can perform at their highest level every single day. That’s how it started. I became a nut for self-improvement. I wanted to know: How can I make myself the very best version of myself and reach my full potential? And how can I help others do the same thing?”
He has worked with many players over the years; this summer, he’s focused on training Jeremy Lin, Kelly Olynyk, Domantas Sabonis, Aron Baynes, Bismack Biyombo and Kyle Singler among others. He wants clients who are willing to completely buy in to his athlete-of-the-future protocol because he believes it will increase their production and extend their career.
“Why not enjoy every minute of life at your optimal capacity?” Nurse said. “If a player’s mind and body are functioning optimally, they can make sure they are reaching their potential. This is about helping players be their best selves every day. You won’t wonder, ‘Will I feel great today?’ You confidently know you will.”
Nurse’s athlete-of-the-future regimen involves working with players on the court and studying film with them (like most skill trainers). But he’s also helping players with four key off-court components, using the help of “top experts in every field of personal human optimization and development” whom he’s met in recent years. Below, Nurse describes each of the areas he focuses on with players:
SLEEP
“I don’t get a ton of sleep – I’m really busy and work long days with a full schedule – so I needed my sleep to be completed dialed in. I started researching this and became friends with some of the top sleep coaches in the world like Patrick Byrne, who has worked with Dirk Nowitzki, and Nick Littlehales, who has worked with Cristiano Ronaldo. I picked their brains on the most important factors in getting great sleep. What I learned is that sleep may be the most important factor in a player’s regimen, even more important than their workout and nutrition. If you aren’t sleeping right, you’re running on empty fumes and you aren’t able to function to the best of your ability.
“After realizing the importance of sleep, it made me want to become a human guinea pig. I wanted to perfect my sleep and get it down to a science to see how much it improved the way I function. Over the past three or four years, I’ve been able to tinker with my sleep and find out exactly what my body needs. Now, I fall asleep within one minute and after 7-to-7.5 hours, I’m awake without any grogginess and I have a ton of energy the entire day. I just had to do a few little things. I sleep with a thing called ChiliPad, which chills my bed to the optimal temperature that I want my body temperature to be at, which is 65 degrees. I make sure that I eat my carbohydrates later in the day, which helps me fall asleep and get a deeper sleep. I make sure my room is completely blacked out – no light – and I don’t have use any blue lights, like from a phone or laptop, in the two hours before I’m going to bed. These are things that worked for me and now I’ve locked them in so I sleep great every night.
“When I’m working with one of my players who’s using the athlete-of-the-future program, we analyze every area of their sleep and piece by piece, I slowly build their sleep [formula] so they can lock in just like I was able to do. And everybody is different, so these things vary from people to people. We all have different chronotypes, so someone like myself functions at their best early in the morning, but some people get their best work done late at night. We have to figure out the player’s chronotype, so we know when he functions the best.”
NUTRITION
“When it comes to helping a player master their nutrition, I’m breaking their diet down and seeing what their direct needs are. Everything is super customized to the person and to the specific goals they’re trying to hit. Some players are trying to lose weight or stay at a certain weight, while others are trying to gain weight. There are a few things that are staples, that are consistent across all of the nutrition plans. For example, I always cut out sugar and I always cut out processed carbs – we want everything to be natural.
“I traveled to the Blue Zones, like Okinawa in Japan, where people live the longest and I studied what they eat on a daily basis. I looked at what people in Africa and South America eat for recovery. I saw what the top-level soccer facilities for soccer in Spain instruct their players to eat on a daily basis as well as for recovery. I studied a lot of different cultures to see what foods work best for them and I’ve also talked to experts such as Cate Shanahan, who has become a close friend of mine. She helped Dwight Howard get off his 24-candy-bar-a-day diet and she was Kobe Bryant’s personal nutritionist who got Kobe into making bone broth.
“I’ve been interested in nutrition for a long time; over the last 10 years, it’s something I became obsessed with because I wanted to figure out what would make me feel good and function at my highest level every day. I decided, ‘I’m going to treat my body like a Ferrari and only put great things in it so it runs perfectly.’ But I also wanted to figure out what combinations work well together. For example, I learned that a mix of turmeric and pepper reduces inflammation, so I put that in all my salads. Just like with my sleep habits, I tested all of this stuff on myself before I started doing any kind of nutrition help with players. Once again, I was the guinea pig. I wanted to figure out which foods were the best for me, which foods would provide mental clarity so I’m sharp, which foods would give me the most energy and which foods would keep me lean and in shape to defend these NBA players in our workouts.
“With nutrition, I want my guys to buy in completely because that’s how they’ll see the best results. You can make small adjustments and those are great too – I’ll never knock someone for making small changes because it’s progress. But for what we’re trying to achieve, total buy-in and constantly learning what’s right for you nutritionally is important. Players need to make the right nutrition choices because those decisions have such a huge impact on their career.”
RECOVERY
“Sleep and nutrition factor into recovery and longevity, which is why I try to get guys to completely buy in and do all of these things. But in addition to those two things, I make sure my guys are always pre-recovering, whether that’s their roll-outs, stretches, yoga, etc.
“Then, we’re also focused on their post-workout recovery. For example, using a red-light charger to recover their mitochondria at a higher level. My post-workout recovery isn’t just icing your knees or jumping in an ice bath. I’m looking at helping them recover at a cellular level too. Mitochondria are basically your power cells. You can ice something, but that’s acute recovery. We’re building from the inside-out. A red-light charger is recovering your mitochondria and infusing energy in you. A virtual float tank is going to help your body recover, but it also helps you get into a relaxed state and helps your mind recover and be present in the moment, which are some things we also use in mental training that we’ll get to later. There are a lot of different things that I have access to for my players. There’s this place called Upgrade Labs [which is described as a biohacking health and fitness facility’] that has equipment that NBA teams won’t be getting for another five years. I’ve taken some NBA coaches in there to show them this stuff and they’re just blown away when they see these things, like atmospheric cell trainers or cold-hit recovery. I can dive into the science into those things, but it’s basically understanding that the recovery process is more about cellular regeneration than just icing or stretching. It’s very in-depth.
“I’ve been able to develop a friendship with Ben Greenfield, who I think is the best human optimizer. He works with some NBA teams [including the Miami Heat] and I learn so much from him. I have a few other people in my network who are all about optimizing recovery and I’ve learned a ton, which has been fun. Again, I’ve done all of these things myself, so I can tell these NBA players what I’ve experienced, exactly how it’s worked for me and figure out what they need. One player may need PEMF recovery on their knee if it’s inflamed. It can make some players recover three-to-five times faster. I customize everything for each player because everyone is different in terms of their recovery needs, but we’re working with cutting edge stuff that offers the best recovery accessible to humans at this moment.”
MENTAL TRAINING
“I’ve been so blessed to work with over 100 players over the years and I think one of my gifts is being able to form close relationships with people, so they feel that they can trust in me and be comfortable with me. The mental training isn’t something where we’ll sit down and I’ll say, ‘Alright, guys, it’s time to do 30 minutes of mental training.’ The last thing I want is for guys to be combative toward it. Again, I want them to be in a relaxed state, to constantly focus on the present. Mindfulness is important. But the majority of the mental training that I do is through infusing confidence in players, and it’s done in a lot of different ways. What I am – and this is honestly what I tell people – is that, yeah, I’m a player-development coach, but I’m also a motivator who will infuse confidence into you. I’m also their ‘confidence coach,’ I guess you can say. I do a lot of talks on how to increase confidence and how to motivate people.
“A lot of the mental training is based on a player’s situation. If a player is struggling and going through a rough stretch in their season, I’ll fly out to them and be with them. Just being with them and having them know that they have someone they trust, who’s in their corner, who they can be real with does wonders itself. It may sound cheesy, but it really does help them.
“With the mental training, the idea is to allow players to get to that point themselves – whether it’s in the locker room before a game or in practice. And I’m always there for guys throughout the season if they need me. Sometimes, I’ll tinker with a player’s mental training throughout the season to help them with something specific. Honestly, a lot of it comes down to our relationship and them being willing to put their trust in me.
“One thing that I’ve started using more and more is virtual reality. There’s a company I use that’s able to cut game film up and the players can watch it from their perspective and go through all the decisions they made. One of the toughest things to teach is making quick decisions in the moment and you can only be on the court to practice this stuff for so long because it’s taxing. But with VR, you can watch it for as long as you want. It’s like you’re back in the game, back in the practice, spotting the right decision and what you could’ve done better. I don’t know if any NBA teams are using it, but I’ve been testing it and it’s been great with the players who have used it. But, basically, the mental training is all about increasing their confidence, positivity and mindfulness.”
***
Nurse practices what he preaches and says the results have been excellent, which is why he’s so excited to introduce this program to more and more NBA players.
“I feel better than I felt when I was in college. I’m about to be 32 years old and I tested my telomeres what tell you your ‘actual age’ based on what your body is like and I tested at 21, which means my body is functioning like a 21-year-old’s body,” Nurse said. “And I know it wasn’t like that a few years ago, before these changes, because I feel so different.”
Initially, Olynyk came to Nurse strictly to work out, as he would with any other trainer. He wasn’t aware of everything Nurse could provide off the court. But he was open-minded and once he started to realize just how much knowledge his trainer had and how these lifestyle changes could help him, he bought in 100 percent and he’s been very pleased.
“He’s really been able to help me this summer, in all facets of my game and life,” Olynyk said. “He really helps his players squeeze out every last drop of their potential, whether it’s by working with them on the floor – where he’s helped me expand my game – or by helping with sleep, recovery, nutrition or helping you have a clear mind. He loves diving into other people’s minds and seeing what he can learn from them. Then, he loves to not only implement that stuff into his own life, but also spread that knowledge to the people around him. He always want to make other people’s lives better and help them. I think David attacks basketball and life in general in a way that’s different from most trainers, and it’s really refreshing.”
Olynyk also confirmed that Nurse does a great job of instilling confidence in players and keeping them engaged throughout all aspects of their sessions.
“He’s definitely a confidence-builder,” Olynyk said. “The first thing you notice being in the gym with him is that his energy is always up. He always brings the energy and he never has an off day. And that’s not easy to do. No matter what your job is – whether you’re a basketball trainer or you’re working a desk job or you’re delivering mail – your days can get kind of monotonous and repetitive. You may find yourself sort of going through the motions.”
Jeremy Lin started making healthy lifestyle choices before Nurse started training him, but once he and Nurse started working together, they came up with a plan to continue focusing on those good habits and take them to the next level. Lin is excited about his results and believes his lifestyle changes are having a major impact on his game.
“It feels like I’ve pushed my ceiling higher in terms of peak energy level, explosiveness and performance,” Lin told HoopsHype. “I feel like I’m consistently performing at a higher level. I feel a lot better after making these changes.”
Lin turned 30 years old last week and he was just recently traded to the Atlanta Hawks, which will be his seventh team in nine NBA seasons. As an NBA player, you can only focus on the things in your control and that’s exactly what Lin has done.
“In terms of sleep and nutrition, I feel like I’m pretty on top of those things now,” Lin explained. “I have a sleep doctor and a nutritionist.”
And while Nurse is proud of the habits he’s helping players create off the court, one of the biggest areas where he’s been able to help Lin is in his film study. As Lin said: “David has been very helpful to me in terms of film. He takes a lot of time to watch games, cut film and help in skill development.”
Some teams have tried to implement similar programs that monitor players’ sleep and other personal information, but some players are hesitant to hand that data over to the organization. Even if the team employees have good intentions, there’s fear that the info could be used against the player when coaches are determining a game-plan or when it’s time for contract negotiations with the front office. Players (and their agents) point out that they have a lot to lose if the team sees something they determine is concerning. Ultimately, some players feel more comfortable giving this information to someone like Nurse, who isn’t affiliated with a team.
“Most players don’t want teams to know this kind of information,” Nurse said. “If I’m a team and I have every single players’ sleep information and I see that Player X got just two hours of sleep the night before our game because he was out partying all night in New York, I’m not going to play him in that game. But if they don’t know, the guy is going to get his usual playing time. Teams try to do this stuff, but it’s going to be a continued struggle. It has to be an outside entity, and that’s where I’ve come into the picture. There are coaches and GMs who have recommended that one of their players come work with me and they have that trust in me, knowing I’ll get the player’s sleep schedule under control so they don’t really need to worry about it [even though they aren’t the ones seeing the data]. They can get their peace of mind, without the player battling it. When teams try to do this on their own, the players are always going to battle that.”
Lin said that trust is “very important” whenever a player is giving up information about their private life, adding, “But I trust David with this info.” Olynyk completely agreed.
“In today’s day and age, with sleep and nutrition and wearable technology, the teams are trying to do a lot of it, but you don’t want that stuff to be held against you in certain situations and that makes it tough,” Olynyk said, “Where David comes in, he’s a great guy to bridge that gap.”
Lin, Olynyk and Nurse all believe that in a decade, most athletes will have a regimen like this.
“I think the game will become increasingly scientific and objective-data oriented,” Lin said. “And as sports science and analytics progress, so will this stuff.”
“Not only is that where the game is headed, that’s where the world is headed,” Olynyk said. “Whether you’re a basketball player or a CEO or you’re working a 9-to-5, whether you’re young or old, whether you’re a man or a woman, a lot of people are trying to find the healthiest ways to live their life. People want to know how to get the most out of their mind and body and meld those things with their soul. That’s part of what David is about – bringing all of this together into one, all-encompassing thing that will help you get the most out of your life.”
“I think 10 years from now, the things that I’m doing with players will be the norm; that’s why I named it ‘Athlete of the Future,’” Nurse said. “I think people will look back and think, ‘How did players not realize they needed to get the correct sleep or the right nutrition to get their body to function at the highest level?’ Just like we look back at some players from back in the day who treated their body horribly and wonder what could’ve been, it’ll be the same thing. As time goes on and people are more knowledgeable about these areas and there’s even more information accessible, this will be the norm.”
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Every player’s path towards a title is different, even when discussing the legends.
Some were lucky enough to land in the perfect team situation right away, which helped them bring home serious hardware early on in their careers. Others weren’t so lucky, and it became a grind for certain players to earn their first championship.
Below, we show you how old various NBA legends were when they won their first title. Some may surprise you.
MAGIC JOHNSON: 20 YEARS AND 276 DAYS
Legendary point guard Magic Johnson famously started at center in the series-clinching Game 6 1980 NBA Finals road win for the Los Angeles Lakers. On the night, facing the experienced Philadelphia 76ers, Johnson dropped 42 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists, earning Finals MVP honors for his contributions.
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The center position has seen a major resurgence over recent years, with an abundance of young phenoms joining the ranks to solidify what was becoming a pretty weak spot in the NBA.
And if anything, the new generation of centers are more versatile than ever before. In 2018, teams expect their centers not just to protect the paint and rebound, but to handle the ball, space the floor and even create looks for teammates. If your big man can’t do at least two of the aforementioned three things, you’re in trouble, because odds are, the guys he’ll be facing can.
The modern center may not be quite at the level of the position’s glory years, when the likes of Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, Alonzo Mourning and Shaquille O’Neal battled it out on a nightly basis, but it’s certainly nowhere near as weak as some would lead you to believe, either.
Below, we project the Top-30 centers for the upcoming 2018-19 season.
30. BAM ADEBAYO, MIAMI HEAT
The Miami Heat surprised many when they made Bam Adebayo the 14th-overall pick of the 2017 draft. After all, they already had an established center on the roster, and had more of a need to fill on the wing, where a true difference-maker was (and still is) lacking. Nevertheless, Adebayo’s play during his rookie season made Miami look savvy for making the selection. In his first season, the Kentucky product put up 6.9 points and 5.8 rebounds per contest while playing fewer than 20 minutes per game. Per-36 minutes, Adebayo averaged 12.6 points and 10.0 boards nightly – giving us a glimpse of what his upside may look like.
The 6-foot-10 center is an absolute load in the post, can fly out of the gym and has deceptive lateral quickness. Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra has used that to his advantage, even deploying the big man to defend ball-handlers in certain high-pressure situations, like here, in these instances, against three perennial All-NBA guys:
By popular demand, Bam Adebayo vs. Butler, LeBron and Curry.
More to defense than these isolated events, but they sure are some impressive flashes for a rookie center. pic.twitter.com/3fFSWS8uog
Of course, Adebayo isn’t perfect; he struggles with finishing in traffic and hasn’t shown much as an outside shooter. But his blend of athleticism and high two-way basketball IQ gives the 21-year-old massive potential. The problem is, he may struggle to reach it next year, since he’ll be fighting for playing time with two other big men coming up on our list.
29. bobby portis, CHICAGO BULLS
We know, Bobby Portis has spent the majority of his career at the 4-spot. But with Jabari Parker’s arrival, and after the fantastic rookie season Lauri Markkanen had, we believe Portis ends up playing more center than in any campaign prior next year, simply out of necessity. Plus, in his first and third seasons, Portis did spend 51 percent and 47 percent of his time at the 5 respectively, according to Basketball Reference. So it’s not like he doesn’t have experience at the position.
Either way, if Portis maintains the trajectory he’s on, the Arkansas product may be in line for a big 2018-19. The almost 7-footer averaged 13.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.1 three-pointers nightly last season, blossoming into an adept outside shooter and providing solid scoring off the bench for the Bulls.
Portis does still have a ways to go defensively, as he contributes nearly zero rim-protection and isn’t fleet of foot enough to chase stretch-4s around the perimeter. Regardless, Chicago was an impressive 7.9 points per 100 possessionsbetter with Portis in the game last season, so clearly, his bucket-getting prowess more than makes up for his defensive deficiencies. As an offensive-minded third big man for the Bulls, we expect Portis to be even more impactful next year.
28. KYLE O’QUINN, INDIANA PACERS
Despite not even being the starting center for the New York Knicks last year, Kyle O’Quinn was downright beloved by the advanced stats. According to Value Over Replacement Player (VORP), O’Quinn was the 39th-most impactful player league-wide in 2017-18, according to Box Plus/Minus (BPM), the 24th-most.
In just 18.0 minutes per contest, the 6-foot-10 bruiser averaged 7.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.3 blocks per game, shooting 58.3 percent from the floor and 77.2 percent from the foul stripe. For reference, per-36 minutes, that rounds up to 14.3 points, 12.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.5 blocks per game. Obviously, O’Quinn couldn’t maintain the same level of production in twice as big of a role, but nevertheless, he makes a fantastic impact in the role he actually has.
Also pertinent is that with O’Quinn in the game last year, the Knicks actually outscored opponents by 3.3 points per 100 possessions. Considering that for the year, the Knicks had a -3.6 net rating, that’s quite the noteworthy mark, proving his two-way influence actually affected game outcomes.
Now a member of the Indiana Pacers, O’Quinn’s projection for 2018-19 mostly takes a hit for the same reason that Adebayo’s did: He’ll be splitting playing time with two other big men coming up on our list.
27. MARCIN GORTAT, LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS
Between his dip in production (8.4 points, 7.6 rebounds per game last season) and the weird, unhealthy dynamic he had with star floor general John Wall, it’s safe to say Marcin Gortat didn’t have the best 2017-18 campaign. And to add insult to injury, it culminated with him getting traded to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Besides his locker-room issues, it’s not hard to surmise why Gortat got dealt. Once his biggest strength, Gortat was brutally ineffective finishing out of the pick-and-roll last year, scoring a meager 0.88 points per possession (PPP) on such looks (14th percentile), per Synergy Sports Tech. That was a worse rate than Bismack Biyombo, one of the least-effective bucket-producing centers in the league.
Moving to the west coast may be a breath of fresh air for the Polish Hammer, and could even help him revitalize his career. But because it’ll be his age-34 season, we’re not expecting much.
26. jarrett allen, Brooklyn Nets
The 22nd-overall pick in the 2017 draft, Jarrett Allen is another young big man who quietly had a great year in 2017-18. Allen averaged 8.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.2 blocks nightly last season, shooting a tidy 58.9 percent from the floor and 77.6 percent from the foul stripe.
To go with his monstrous 7-foot-6 wingspan and freakish athleticism, Allen was also able to display good hands for a big man, which made him a very productive finisher out of the pick-and-roll. Per Synergy, Allen was in the 69th percentile as the roll man last season – a healthy mark, and the best among first-year contributors. With more time to acclimate playing alongside D’Angelo Russell, a creative distributor at lead guard, Allen should be even more productive next year, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him outplay his place in this ranking.
25. DOMANTAS SABONIS, INDIANA PACERS
Domantas Sabonis bounced back nicely after a tough rookie campaign, averaging 11.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game in 2017-18. He’s a great finisher in the paint, a decent defender – even despite not racking up many steals and blocks – and a great passer for a big man.
As he continues to get more comfortable with his outside shooting (his form is far from broken, and he did convert 13 of his 37 three-point attempts last season), Sabonis’ impact will grow more and more potent. Ultimately, however, the most important thing for Sabonis will be to improve his synergy with Myles Turner, the Indiana Pacers’ most important young piece, and a big man the team hopes they can build around.
If the two centers can learn to coexist, Indiana’s ceiling as a team – and ability to contend for the East – would greatly change, for the better.
24. JAKOB POELTL, SAN ANTONIO SPURS
One of the best backup centers in the league last year, Jakob Poeltl moved from the Toronto Raptors to the San Antonio Spurs this summer as part of the Kawhi Leonard deal. The sneakily athletic 7-footer is poised to take a leap in 2018-19, as one couldn’t have scripted a better landing spot for him than playing for the legendary big-man whisperer Gregg Popovich.
Already, Poeltl has proven to be an apt rim-protector, a fantastic finisher around the rim and someone who can hightail it down the open floor for easy buckets. In 2017-18, the Utah product ranked in the 98th percentile (albeit on a smallish sample size of 45 possessions) in transition scoring, dropping an insane 1.51 PPP on such looks. What’s more, Poeltl’s defensive metrics and consistency on offense put him in special company last season, according to NBA Math:
Underrated part of the Kawhi Leonard deal: the Spurs landing Jakob Poeltl. Per @NBA_Math, here's the list of players w/ > 10 Offensive Points Added and 80 Defensive Points Saved in < than 2500 MIN last season:
Poeltl still needs to work on being less jumpy defensively – well-timed ball fakes were his kryptonite – and on his rebounding, but the Austrian center has the upside to make some serious noise next season, and could eventually even make a push for the Spurs’ starting center job. We’re that confident in his abilities.
23. BROOK LOPEZ, MILWAUKEE BUCKS
Merely two years ago, Brook Lopez was putting up over 20 points nightly for the Nets. After a one-year trip to play for the Los Angeles Lakers where his numbers took a hit, Lopez is back in the Eastern Conference, set to suit up for the Milwaukee Bucks. It’s not a lock, but it’s probably reasonable to assume the Stanford product should be considered the favorite to start at center for head coach Mike Budenholzer’s men next year.
Lopez’s ability to space the floor from three will undoubtedly help open up space for Giannis Antetokounmpo to attack the rim, while his rim-protecting prowess will only add to Milwaukee’s freakishly long and disruptive core group of players. Over the past two seasons, Lopez is the only player league-wide with at least 240 three-pointers and 220 blocks, which goes to show just how effective he is as a floor-spacing shot-blocker.
22. PAU GASOL, SAN ANTONIO SPURS
Spanish basketball legend Pau Gasol saw his numbers fall across the board last season, and it’s tough to really fault him. He’s been in the league for 17 seasons already – anything else he does before he retires will just be the cherry on top of a Hall-of-Fame career.
Either way, Gasol still put up a decent 10.1 points and 8.0 boards per contest in 2017-18, proving that in a diminished role, he can still be effective. Additionally, in the Spurs’ defensive system, the six-time All-Star isn’t a total liability defensively. And as a 35.8 percent three-point shooter, he spaces the floor from three pretty well.
Gasol’s most important contribution in 2018-19, however, may be playing the role of mentor for the incoming 22-year-old Poeltl, who has the potential to be a starting-caliber center in the NBA. The young big man could stand to learn a lot from the two-time champion Gasol.
21. KELLY OLYNYK, MIAMI HEAT
If he were a member of a less crowded frontcourt, there’s a good chance Kelly Olynyk would have fared even better in these rankings. The Canadian 7-footer is coming off the best year of his career, according to multiple advanced metrics, and his raw numbers – 11.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.4 triples nightly – were equally as impressive for a backup big man.
Offensively, there’s not much Olynyk can’t do. He’s a more than capable outside shooter (37.9 percent from three in 2017-18), he has a tight ball-handle that makes it difficult for opposing traditional bigs to stay in front of him on the perimeter and he’s a greatly underrated playmaker. Olynyk’s 18.7 percent assist rate was a higher mark than multiple primary ball-handlers like Jamal Murray and Malcolm Brogdon, so even if he’s not the flashiest distributor in the league, his ability to drive the ball, suck in defenders and hit teammates for easy looks clearly gets results.
It’s the less glamorous side of the ball where Olynyk struggles. He provides Miami with next to no rim protection, and though he does have the agility to stay in front of opposing floor-spacing big men, he’s not exactly great at it.
Still, overall, Olynyk is a vitally important piece for the Heat as his +9.5 net rating would prove, and next year should be more of the same for the Gonzaga product in South Florida.
20. DEANDRE AYTON, PHOENIX SUNS
Throughout the course of this series, we’ve made it a point to project the incoming rookie class conservatively. That sort of went out the window with Deandre Ayton, though.
Despite the Phoenix Suns’ clear lack of even a starting-caliber point guard (they could have gone for one in free agency, but instead opted to further muddle up their wing rotation by signing yet another small forward), Ayton is talented enough to put up huge numbers without having a pure floor general to feed him easy looks.
Seeing the Arizona product’s performance in Summer League did nothing to dispel that notion, either:
The 20-year-old possesses great size, length and athleticism, to go with soft touch both in the paint and from the short midrange area. His defensive awareness and effort still need to get better, but there’s no doubting Ayton’s vast potential. The big man is in line for a huge rookie season.
19. DWIGHT HOWARD, WASHINGTON WIZARDS
It’s now or never for Dwight Howard to prove his naysayers – those that believe he can no longer be an important piece on a winning team – wrong. Howard was able to put up decent averages (16.6 points, 12.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game) last season, but they were of the empty variety for the Charlotte Hornets.
It’s almost like the eight-time All-Star is clinging to the idea that he’s still an elite player, capable of leading a team on his own using a plethora of nightly face- and post-ups, instead of accepting that he’s nearly 33, and should be focusing on doing the dirty work.
Howard posted up more than all but two players in 2017-18 (LaMarcus Aldridge and another guy coming up on our list), and in those possessions, he was terribly ineffective. According to Synergy, among players with at least 200 post-ups on the season, Howard’s 0.83 PPP was the third-paltriest mark, and his turnover rate (17.6 percent) was the worst.
Add in the fact that his finishing out of the pick-and-roll (1.04 PPP, 43rd percentile) was also pretty mediocre, and that’s enough to raise questions about whether Howard will even be an upgrade over Gortat.
Nevertheless, teaming up with a creative distributor at point guard like John Wall should help Howard better those pick-and-roll marks, and as long as he rebounds and defends like he did last year with Charlotte, he should, at worst, live up to the two-year, $11 million price tag Washington signed him to.
18. HASSAN WHITESIDE, MIAMI HEAT
When he’s in prime form, few big men can match Hassan Whiteside’s level of dominance on the glass and as a rim-protector. The year before last, the Marshall product led the league in nightly boards (14.1), and the season prior to that, he had the Association’s top nightly rejections average (3.7).
The thing is, Whiteside, whether due to injury or other issues, wasn’t close to that form in 2017-18. What’s worse, the 7-footer went from sort of ineffective to downright unplayable in the postseason, where he only saw the floor for just over 15 minutes per outing, averaging merely 5.2 points and 6.0 rebounds per contest, and getting completely outperformed by one of the NBA’s top young centers.
If Whiteside can leave last year’s consistency-related issues in the past, he could make this ranking look bad. Who knows? Maybe the knee troubles that forced him to miss 28 games in the regular season really did linger throughout the playoffs, causing him to perform so poorly. But lacking definitive proof that that’s the case, and with Whiteside having to split playing time with two big men – Olynyk and Adebayo – who are just as talented as he is, there’s really no reason to be positive he’ll bounce back in 2018-19.
We’re going to have to see it to believe it.
17. ENES KANTER, NEW YORK KNICKS
His lack of a defensive presence is well-documented, but regardless, Enes Kanter blossomed into a double-double machine with the Knicks last season. The Turkish big man put up 14.1 points and 11.0 rebounds per contest in 2017-18, ranking in the 80th percentile (1.27 PPP) as a roll man out of the pick-and-roll, and the 74th percentile (0.96 PPP) on post-ups.
Even though their long-term future remains in flux with Kanter set to hit free agency in 2019, Kristaps Porzingis and his frontcourt partner proved to be pretty synergistic last season – one, a floor-spacing shot-blocker and the other, a rebound vacuum who provided the team with toughness down low.
Additionally, even if it’s not good to put too much stock into offseason footage, Kanter at least trying to extend his range to the three-point line this summer is a welcome sight, as that would be the final frontier to turn him into a multi-dimensional offensive weapon:
We’ll see if he translate that to actual game action. If it does, Kanter could be in line for a major 2018-19 campaign.
16. NIKOLA VUCEVIC, ORLANDO MAGIC
A fellow archaic big man, but one who has began to turn the corner into modernization last season, Nikola Vucevic is coming off a year in which he averaged 16.5 points and 9.2 boards nightly Formerly just a post-up, put-back specialist, Vucevic extended his range in 2017-18, attempting a career-high 204 triples and converting a career-best 64 of them.
Like Kanter, he struggles defensively due to slow feet and lacking explosion as a shot-blocker (though, to be fair, Vucevic is a far superior rim-protector to his Turkish counterpart), but his impact offensively outweighs that – at least to an extent.
It’ll be interesting to note what happens to Vucevic next season. After all, the Orlando Magic drafted his long-term replacement when they took Mohamed Bamba. Plus, 2018-19 is the final year of Vucevic’s current deal. He could be a prime trade target for a playoff team looking for more scoring out of their frontcourt at the deadline.
15. JUSUF NURKIC, PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
Following a mid-season 2016-17 trade to the Portland Trail Blazers, it appeared that Jusuf Nurkic found the perfect landing spot, and was ready to reach the next proverbial step as a player. Last season proved that wasn’t the case. The Bosnian big man finished 2017-18 averaging 14.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per contest – decent marks, but a far cry from what a player with his tools should be putting up.
Nurkic’s 50.5 field-goal percentage is far too poor of a mark for a big man who doesn’t space the floor from three whatsoever. At times, the 7-footer throws up awkward flip shots in the paint instead of going up strong and drawing fouls. And his propensity for launching long mid-range jumpers instead of taking a few steps back and shooting threes is a killer for his efficiency.
Nevertheless, though there’s a lot Nurkic has to work on, he provides Portland with productive two-way play. He simply has to get more consistent.
14. MYLES TURNER, INDIANA PACERS
A third-year regression prevented Turner from faring better on this countdown. After impressing in his second season, averaging 14.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, Turner’s marks fell to 12.7 points and 6.4 boards per contest in 2017-18. He was still quite effective, but it was disappointing to see him fail to continue on the upward trajectory he appeared to be on.
Nonetheless, Turner is still quite the rare talent, fitting the archetype of a floor-spacing rim-protector beautifully. The former Texas Longhorn made a decent 35.7 percent of his threes last season, blocking 1.8 shots per contest along the way. Only two other players averaged as many three-pointers and blocks as Turner did last year; they were Kevin Durant and a guy who will finish pretty high near the top of this ranking.
Not bad company for Turner to be in.
Still, after seeing his development stagnate a bit last season, we need improvement in 2018-19 before ranking him more favorably among the top centers in the league.
13. JONAS VALANCIUNAS, TORONTO RAPTORS
Lithuanian center Jonas Valanciunas was an excellent three-point shooter in 2017-18 – if we discount for sample size. The 7-footer shot 40.5 percent from deep last season, but the high rate came on just 74 attempts in 75 games. Even so, it was progress for the throwback big man, and it helped him post his best season of his career, according to both VORP and BPM.
More than anything, Valanciunas provides the Raptors with toughness in the paint, thanks to a brutally effective post-up game. Per Synergy, among players with at least 150 post-ups last year, Valanciunas’ 1.09 PPP was by far the best rate in the league, with the second-place finisher (LeBron James), producing just 1.04 PPP on the same looks.
He may be more of an old-school big, but in a 20-minute-per-game role, Valanciunas can be exceedingly impactful.
12. MARC GASOL, MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES
2017-18 was a rough year for Marc Gasol. He didn’t get along with his head coach David Fizdale (eventually leading to his firing), and the Grizzlies were one of the worst teams in the league. A lot of Memphis’ troubles had to do with Mike Conley’sinjury-related absence, but even so, the campaign overall wasn’t a great look for the big Spaniard.
To his credit, Gasol did suit up for 73 games on the season, even despite the team clearly being in the gutter by the All-Star break. What’s more, he finished the year averaging 17.2 points, 8.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.5 three-pointers per contest, proving that he’s still an elite big man.
But the Grizzlies were statistically worse during his time on the floor, and that, coupled with the fact next year will be his age-34 season, caused us to knock him down a peg on these rankings.
11. DEANDRE JORDAN, DALLAS MAVERICKS
After being spurned in free agency a few summers ago, Mark Cuban finally got his guy.
Following 10 seasons with the Clippers, DeAndre Jordan joined the Dallas Mavericks this offseason. The athletic big man should immediately help boost the team’s efficiency on the point-scoring end (Dallas ranked 23rd in offensive rating in 2017-18) thanks to his hard-nosed screen-setting and prowess as a finisher in the paint.
Jordan ranked in the 83rd percentile as the roll man last season (1.25 PPP), according to Synergy, a skill that should translate wonderfully to running pick-and-rolls with Wonder Boy and passing savant Luka Doncic. Jordan’s presence should also help Dennis Smith Jr. improve after an up-and-down first season.
Will Jordan’s addition help the Mavericks reach the playoffs in 2018-19? Probably not. But his pickup definitely makes them better, and he’ll help the young backcourt properly develop.
10. STEVEN ADAMS, OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER
New Zealand native Steven Adams had a fantastic 2017-18, averaging 13.9 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.2 steals per contest while shooting 62.9 percent from the floor – the sixth-tidiest mark in the league. Over the past few seasons, Adams has proven to be one of the most selfless players league-wide, one who is willing to do the dirty work and let his teammates get all the shine.
Per Synergy, Adams placed in the 78th percentile as the roll man (1.22 PPP) last season, in the 91st percentile on post-ups (1.08 PPP) and the 92nd percentile (1.37 PPP) in transition scoring – is there any doubt he could be putting up huge numbers on a different team?
Whether it bothers him or not (odds are, it doesn’t at all), Adams’ raw stats won’t change much next year since he’ll still be a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Hence, his spot on our list. Still, ranking among the Top 10 centers in the league is nothing to scoff at, and Adams definitely deserves the honor.
9. CLINT CAPELA, HOUSTON ROCKETS
Whether it was due to playing with one of the two-best backcourts in the NBA or not, Clint Capela deserves a ton of credit for his breakout 2017-18 campaign. The Swiss big man averaged 13.9 points, 10.8 points and 1.9 blocks per game, leading the league in field-goal percentage at an absurd 65.2 percent. Sure, most of his chances were dunks set up by Chris Paul and James Harden, but Capela did a great job of making the most of every opportunity.
Perhaps even more impressive than the career-high marks in points and rebounds, however, was the fact that the bouncy center was able to play 27.5 minutes per game last season – something that would have been impossible a few years ago due to Capela’s poor stamina. That, plus his much-improved hands, have turned Capela into the perfect complementary big man – one who doesn’t do much as far as shot creation, but does finish nearly every chance he gets, an important skill in its own right.
8. DEMARCUS COUSINS, GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS
Like Porzingis on the power-forward ranking, DeMarcus Cousins’ spot on this list took a hit due to the injury concerns surrounding the enigmatic big man.
It’s not known when exactly Cousins’ return from a torn achilles will take place – there was talk it could happen by training camp, with other chatter placing the date closer to the All-Star break. The last we see Cousins on a basketball court, he looked to be moving decently well all things considered, but was still clearly hampered by the injury:
Chances are, the Golden State Warriors will push for Cousins to delay his return as long as needed for him to come back as close to fully healthy as possible. It’s not like they need him before the postseason rolls around, anyway.
Once he does return, Cousins will probably make Golden State even more ridiculous than they were before, as his outside shooting, playmaking and toughness in the paint could help them reach an even higher plane.
How fair does that sound?
7. ANDRE DRUMMOND, DETROIT PISTONS
It was a career season for Andre Drummond in 2017-18, even if it was already the second time the UConn product made an All-Star team and led the league in rebounding. Drummond hit an even higher level last year than in his first All-Star campaign, averaging 15.0 points, 16.0 boards, 1.5 steals, 1.6 blocks and, most impressively, a career-high 3.0 assists per contest.
It was that much-improved playmaking that helped Drummond see an uptick in most of the important advanced metrics, including BPM and VORP, and made him a more well-rounded player. We’ll see if Drummond keeps any playmaking duties next season with Reggie Jackson returning and Blake Griffin’s arrival, but even if he doesn’t, it was important for his development that he got a season under his belt where he did have to do a bit of everything.
The only reason Drummond isn’t ranked higher on this list is because over the past two years, even despite the big man’s impressive raw numbers, the Pistons have been outscored by 7.1 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor. It’ll be pertinent for Detroit’s playoff chances that that changes next season, otherwise, the Dwane Casey era may get off to a rough start.
6. AL HORFORD, BOSTON CELTICS
A defensive ace, a fantastic distributor and a floor-spacer, Al Horford checks just about every box necessary to be an elite modern big man. The Florida product averaged 12.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.1 blocks per game in 2017-18, on healthy 48.9/42.9/78.3 shooting splits.
As a spot-up shooter, Horford placed in the 94th percentile (1.25 PPP) last season, above the likes of Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson, which is insane for a big man. Horford’s shooting, as well as passing and ability to defend on the perimeter, makes him special, even if he doesn’t put up 20 points per game – his impact goes beyond just scoring.
In the regular season, Horford boasted a +8.0 net rating – a stunning enough mark in its own right, if not for the fact that in the playoffs, it got even better. Throughout Boston’s surprising 19-game postseason run, which came to within one victory of a Finals berth, Horford had a +12.3 net rating, proving that he’s without question among the best big men basketball has to offer.
The only thing really hurting Horford’s spot in this ranking is his how old he is; 2018-19 is set to be the well-rounded big man’s age-32 season. Even then, we may even be underselling him at No. 6.
5. NIKOLA JOKIC, DENVER NUGGETS
It’s hard to surmise why Nikola Jokic is such a contentious player when it comes to online basketball discourse.
For one, his game is especially aesthetically pleasing, so whoever’s seen him play has to have a huge appreciation for how his otherworldly offensive talent impacts outcomes.
Secondly, for those that are more analytically inclined, Jokic’s numbers – both standard and advanced – are completely bonkers. The big Serbian is coming off a season in which he averaged 18.5 points, 10.7 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.5 triples per contest, shooting 39.6 percent from three and 85.0 percent from the striple. Jokic was also fifth league-wide in VORP and sixth in BPM.
Just insane.
With all that said, you may be surprised that Jokic ranks just fifth in our countdown. But with so many stupendous young centers coming up, someone had to fall a bit, and Jokic, due to his limitations defensively (yes, he makes up for it some with great positioning and quick, swiping hands that help him rack up steals) and the fact he hasn’t been able to lead the Denver Nuggets to the playoffs yet (granted, tough to knock him for since the West is absurdly stacked), Jokic ended up being our choice for the big man who fell.
4. KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS, MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES
Another extremely gifted young scorer at the center position, Karl-Anthony Towns edges out Jokic for the fourth spot in our ranking. The former Kentucky Wildcat averaged 21.3 points, 12.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.5 threes per contest in 2017-18, helping guide the Minnesota Timberwolves to the playoffs for the first time since 2003-04. Towns also became the first player in league history to shoot at least 42 percent from three (min: 75 attempts) and block over 100 shots in a single season.
Towns is an obscenely unique talent – one that any team would kill to build around. Still just 22 years old, it’ll be fascinating to see the heights the big man can reach.
In fact, the only reason we didn’t rank Towns higher is due to his somewhat clunky fit with Jimmy Butler. Though the duo did manage to lead Minnesota to the playoffs for the first time in forever, this offseason has seen the two seemingly take subtle shots maybe not directly at each other, but at the team dynamic overall. It’s a hard to explain, weird, and ultimately, concerning situation, and it’ll have to be monitored as we approach 2018-19.
Not to mention, in a purely basketball sense, Butler’s arrival hurt Towns’ output, as the big Dominican was putting up over 25 points per contest prior to the star swingman joining the team.
Still, Towns was magnificent last year, and that won’t change next season.
3. RUDY GOBERT, UTAH JAZZ
In 2016-17, the Utah Jazz exceeded expectations, won 51 regular-season games and then reached the second-round of the playoffs, knocking off CP3’s Clippers along the way. Then, All-Star wing Gordon Hayward left for Boston, and everyone expected Utah to fall to the bottom of the Western Conference standings.
Except they didn’t. And although rookie phenom Donovan Mitchell deserves a ton of credit, as the Jazz would have been in trouble without his perimeter scoring, it’s Rudy Gobert who was the primary reason for that. The French 7-footer put up 13.5 points, 10.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per contest last season, while shooting 62.2 percent from the floor. Utah were 8.1 points per 100 possessions better with the defensive stalwart on the floor. And despite playing just 56 games, his point-stopping impact was so great that Gobert took home 2018’s Defensive Player of the Year honors anyway.
He may not be much of a scorer, but Gobert’s improved his offensive game enough to place in the 87th percentile (1.28 PPP) as the roll man last season and the 80th percentile (1.26 PPP) in transition scoring, per Synergy.
Essentially, Gobert is a more than capable offensive player who doubles as the most impactful defender in the league, making it not-so-surprising that Utah has ranked fifth in net rating in each of the last two seasons.
With more growth out of Mitchell, it’ll be interesting to see how much better the Jazz can be in 2018-19, with Gobert providing his usual, out of this world two-way influence.
2. JOEL EMBIID, PHILADELPHIA 76ERS
The second-place finisher in Defensive Player of the Year voting for 2017-18, Joel Embiid got the edge in our list over Gobert because he nearly matches Gobert’s defensive impact, while contributing much more on the offensive end. The Cameroonian big man put up 22.9 points per game last season, to go with 11.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.8 blocks nightly.
Along with his 7-foot, 250-pound frame and freakish athleticism, Embiid can handle the rock beyond well for a center, dragging opposing bigs out on the perimeter and usually forcing them to foul in order to slow him down. Embiid has averaged over seven free throws nightly in each of his first two seasons, shooting a healthy 77.4 percent once he gets to the stripe. Additionally, his three-point marks may not be great, but the fact he can shoot from out there at all gives opponents something to think about when defending him, giving him yet another edge as a scorer.
Overall, Embiid isn’t just an entertaining figure on social media who puts up empty statistics – he’s an absolute game-changer, a two-way force, a future potential MVP candidate and one of the best centers in basketball.
1. ANTHONY DAVIS, NEW ORLEANS PELICANS
What’s there to be said about Anthony Davis that hasn’t already been said countless times? Simply put: Davis is so insanely good that he has a chance to take the mantle as the best player in the league once LeBron finally starts to regress.
The Brow averaged 28.1 points, 11.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and a league-leading 2.6 blocks per contest last season, while posting career-best marks in effective field goal and true-shooting percentage, thanks to his somewhat improved (34.0 percent) three-point stroke. In the postseason, those numbers actually got even better – to 30.1 points and 13.4 boards nightly, including a 47-point, 11-rebound outing in a closeout victory over Portland in Round 1:
He performs uber-effectively on both ends of the floor, he’s improved as a playmaker, his three-point shot has gotten better… there’s just not much Davis can’t do. As long as Nikola Mirotic and Julius Randle provide complementary play at the 4-spot (shouldn’t be an issue), there’s no reason to think A.D. won’t be even better in 2018-19, playing center again, except this time, in his prime, entering his age-25 season.
Frank Urbina joined Alex Kennedy on the HoopsHype podcast to go into further detail on his center rankings. Click play below for his reasoning behind each selection:
You can follow Frank Urbina on Twitter: @FrankUrbina_.
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